1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a compressing device for a pneumatic massager, which is provided with a plurality of airtight cells adapted to be inflated and contracted by the supply and discharge of compressed air.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional compressing device for a pneumatic massager generally has a plurality of airtight cells arranged parallel so as to form a compressing bag with a sheetlike wall and permits the massager to be used by having the compressing bag wrapped fast around an arm or a leg.
In this case, the compressing bag, to which compressed air inlets and outlets and compressed air sources disposed in the airtight cells are connected via air hoses, produces a massaging action by inflating and contracting the airtight cells sequentially in the direction from the peripheral to the central side by effecting the supply and discharge of compressed air in the relevant airtight cells.
The massager of this construction, therefore, requires as many air hoses as airtight cells and, at the same time, requires distributors for supplying compressed air from a compressed air supply source such as a compressor to the plurality of airtight cells and discharging compressed air from the interior of the airtight cells. Particularly, the distributors tend to boost the cost of the massager because of their complicated structure.
Further, the conventional compressing bag, when attached to a leg or an arm, inevitably covers the joints of the leg or arm and compels the user to incur difficulty in bending the joints. As a measure to abate this difficulty, it has been proposed to form separate bags and attach the bags separately to the thigh and the lower leg. In this case, the number of sites of attachment are increased, the time spent for attachment is longer, and the number of component parts is increased, possibly causing additions to the cost of the massager itself.
A distributing valve intended to handle compressed air is expensive as mentioned above, because of its complicated structure, and poses the problem of inevitably boosting the cost of the pneumatic massager. Under the circumstances, the desirability of developing a compressing device for a pneumatic massager using inexpensive distributing valves simple in structure, or requiring no distributing valve, that produces the same effect as the conventional compressing device, has been finding recognition.
This invention has been perfected in consequence of a diligent study conducted with a view to solving the problems encountered by the conventional compressing device for the pneumatic massager as described above. It has for an object thereof the provision of a compressing device for a pneumatic massager which is capable of sequentially inflating airtight cells in a direction from a peripheral to a central portion of the body along a venous stream without using a distributing valve and, even when the user wearing this compressing device operates the massager while keeping the joints in a bent state, ensuring a satisfactory flow of compressed air in spite of the presence of bends in the communicating paths, and enabling the compressed air to be supplied sequentially from the airtight cells on the peripheral side onward and consequently causing the airtight cells to be inflated sequentially in the direction from the peripheral end of an appendage (peripheral part of the body); to the central end of the appendage at the central portion (central part of body).